#TLDR: there are legitimate problems with this show but like come on

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

”Why does Master Splinter barely ever seem to leave the lair in missions to help the turtles in the 2012 series? He’s an adult!”

Because it’s a kids show so the primary solver of the problems involved is obviously going to be the kids. Having an adult swoop in and solve everything/baby sit all the time would probably be kind of boring for the intended audience. Boring for everyone actually. Next question.

[shiurkoma]

Take: chaotic evil Yehonatan, in which he knew David is meant to replace him and his father from the very start.

TLDR: Yehonatan is as, if not more likely to be the abuser in their relationship because it is plain unfair to overlook how humongous their power gap is, and he is abused enough to be at least a little unhinged in his noggins.

Warning: dead dove do not eat. Im going to entertain an idea where Yehonatan is definitely not a good person. If you have a problem with that, or have issue reading fictional underage abuse and emotional manipulation, please stop reading. Finally, nothing about this is meant to be serious interpretation of the original text, it's all plain headcanoning for fanfiction.

(For the record, i seriously do not consider David (even close to being) a morally good individual in any possible sense of the word. It doesn't make any of this ok tho)

Some fanfics i've seen paint the davinatan ship as a manipulative one, with david being the seducter that manipulates Yehonatan into simping for him, only to discard him after David achieved his goals. Even outside of fanfictions, i know of people who view Yehonatan as a tragic victim. While i appreciate David's more malicious side being acknowledged, and agree with it more than depicting them simply and benignly loving eachother(tho i appreciate that too), I can't help but think how both protrayal down plays just how utterly creepy yehonatan's part in the relationship is.

Like, Yehonatan, a middle aged man with wives and kids, went ahead and basically stripped in front of a teen the first night they met then gave him some really personal and valuable gifts. If thats not a red flag i don't know what is.

Yehonatan is someone you do not want to cross, maybe even more so than Saul.

It is easy to forget that, holding the title of eldest son and legal heir to the throne comes with immense pressure, responsibility and danger, and dealing with all that takes more than just a thick backbone. With a deranged father as king, people around him are constantly plotting to take the throne for themselves. All bets are off in the war for the throne, even if Yehonatan doesn't actually want to be king, his competitors (which includes but not limited to his entire family) wouldn't rest until he is dead. He isn't in a position where he can just back off: it isn't unheard of that princes and kings renounce their positions, retire, and end up getting assassinated or executed anyway. Because king or not, they are still legitimate heirs to the throne and therefore a potential threat.

Basically, Yehonatan lives in a situation where he simply cannot afford to show weakness or hesitation, not to his subordinates, not to his brothers, not to his father, not to anyone. What doesn't kill you makes you dangerous, and Yehonatan is deadly in that sense.

(But its not to say all that didn't take a toll on his mental wellbeing. Yehonatan has no business being mentally ok. He watched his father ascend to the throne, watched as Saul sunk further towards insanity, and had to endure his often psychotic abuse for years. I don't believe one bit that he isn't depressed and at least a little messed up, especially in a time where mental illnesses aren't even acknowledged yet.)

To sum it up, as a weathered crown prince, Yehonatan would logically be a person who is reasonably paranoid, moderately ruthless, extremely strong willed and more than competently intuitive about the motives and intentions of people around him.

David on the other hand (at the start of their relationship anyway) had no prior experience mingling with politics, no ties in the palace, was never regarded with importance by his father or brothers (meaning he had zero exposure and no one ever invested in him), young and inexperienced (meaning vulnerable to manipulation), stands no chance against Yehonatan if he were to play mind games on him.

David could pull an Esther on Yehonatan. But keep in mind Esther and a lot of other femme fatal spies in history had ties that helped pull strings from the outside, they are often not the master mind either. David had himself, and practically nothing else.

This is why Yehonatan helping him matters so much. Useing weak willed and easily manipulated individuals only works for you if you are already a powerful dictator. If you have absolutely nothing you need powerful allys.

The most straightforward option for dark Yehonatan is just to kick the creep element up ten notchs. David tries to seduce Yehonatan, then immediately realises he bit off more than he could chew: he is just too possessive to be controlled. Yehonatan in this scenario probably somewhat resembles that purple creep from Tokyo ghoul, entertaining while the shock value lasts, but after that it gets pretty shallow. I hate this approach tbh.

Or, him seeing David that day was Yehonatan's last straw(what i doodled basically). He stops giving a sh*t about everything, and thought since he is so "in love" he might as well groom and sodomize David. Its a petty way of getting back at God for making him fall for the boy, and for making his life miserable in general.

He uses his charms and presents himself as a saintly figure to appeal to David's more religious side, then proceeds to not only make sure that David is emotionally dependent on him(i won't elaborate how but its easier than you think), but also plans to make it so that if he dies it will f*ck David in the head. He enjoys this, because for once in his life he feels a "real" sense of control, albeit a twisted and perverted one.

(Maybe he will feel shame and regret eventually, but thats another talk for another day.)

I'll borrow my friend's comment to sum up the take: "a broken abused individual perpetuating a cycle of abuse to an ambitions sociopathic twink, each making the other worse just through being together." Another reason i prefer this version of dark Yehonatan is cuz it restores some agency Yehonatan desperate lacks.

Strayed quite far from his canon image with my shameless slandering but yeah that's about it. For now. Might explore David's pov in this later.

[the-crimson]

Why does it feel like we in the q!bbh fandom are constantly defending q!bbh from people who hate his character for no reason.

I say no reason because a majority of the time people make things up whole sale to get mad about or take the smallest action completely out of context to get mad about it. There are legitimate things about q!bbh that I can see turning people off from his character but those things are almost never part of the discourse.

It’s always: q!bbh doesn’t care about the eggs, q!bbh is the most evil person on the island and should be killed repeatedly, he and Leo have no relationship and she would dislike him, Dapper’s deserves a father that actually cares for him, etc etc etc

It’s honestly exhausting because all of these things are blatantly untrue and I have no idea how anyone could come to these conclusions even if they never watch a second of bbh. Q!bbb is the sole reasons no egg has died of neglect since Trump. Q!bbh is the sole reason many of the eggs have maxed out armor, auto feed set up so they are always at max health, and an XP backpack with hundreds of XP. Q!bbh is constantly going out of his way to help others the moment they ask regardless of his own plans.

There is a REASON q!bbh is the only character on quesadilla island with access to every egg’s safe room in and out of the Ninho. Q!bbh is the only character on the server who has an actual relationship with every single egg that goes beyond acquaintances. Ramon is Dapper’s bff and constantly hangs out with bbh and Dapper. Bbh has done Leo’s tasks more times than I can count and her last words before being kidnapped were “I love you”. Bbh has taken care of Tallulah and Chayanne too many time to count. It was only after talking to bbh about how she feels guilty about feeling like Philza is more her father than Wilbur that Tallulah asked Philza to adopt her. Pomme is literally his daughter. Richas has spent countless nights hanging out with bbh and Dapper (and Pomme) after his parents logged off. Bbh would literally burn the world for Dapper in a heart beat.

When bbh learned no other egg made it off the island in purgatory, he spent the last 15 minutes of his stream muted because he was crying irl. Q!bbh was literally killing himself after the eggs were kidnapped and is basically a walking corpse rn with a gapping hole in his head that’s been there for two months. He’s been having memory problems for over a month - this development with his short term memory loss is a natural progression of his preexisting condition!

PEOPLE PLEASE criticize his character for things he actually does. You don’t have to like every character - q!bbh is an annoying little menace! But don’t make shit up to get mad about I’m begging.

If you don’t like a character, then ignore them. There are several character on the qsmp that I absolutely despise and get annoyed when every they show up on stream but I doubt anyone following me could tell me which characters those are because I never talk about it! Especially not in the main tag! I think through purgatory - when my frustration was at its highest - I mentioned one of these characters once in the tags of a reblog.

Tldr: if you don’t like a character, ignore them. Don’t make shit up about them to get mad at. You’re just making urself look like an idiot and an asshole.

[theblondebondd]

i think it's a shame that the general consensus abt sharon fans disliking peggy is that we don't like her because she was with steve. that's really not the case.

peggy's relationship ( or non relationship depending on what comics you're reading ) with steve is important to sharon as a character and steve ( again, the latter depending on what books you're reading ) and their dynamic as well, and we have no reason to outwardly dislike it, because it's been the thing since the beginning. i won't deny that a lot of mcu shippers ( steve and bucky shippers especially ) do hate her and use " liking " sharon as an excuse to do so, but we as two fandoms need to team up against a common enemy on that front, not let them turn us against each other even more lmao

there's a lot of complex reasons that sharon fans dislike peggy ( separate reasons for mcu and comics ) and the biggest one comes from the actress's treatment of the characters and their relationship together, but none of them are peggy being with steve. hating the endgame ending ≠ hating peggy because of it. again, we're not steve & bucky fans. common enemy. pls.

i think every character has flaws, some more apparent, some in aus, and some that some people wouldn't view as flaws. not liking characters because of that isn't a problem unless you're using those reasons to be misogynistic / racist / etc, or just overall being a hypocrite. it's why sharon fans don't mind people not liking sharon, we don't like how some people talk about her when they don't like her.

i might be on my own here, but i don't think i am. there's a big difference between disliking a character for legitimate reasons, and constantly being hypocritical / gross / rude about said character just to antagonize people. like, sharon has plenty of character traits that i totally understand why people don't like her over ( in comics, mcu sharon doesnt really have a personality to like or dislike lmao ). just like peggy has a lot of traits i understand why people like her for ( in mcu & comics ) they're just not traits i like and that's okay.

one day ill compile a list of reasons why people ( especially sharon fans ) don't love peggy, and im sure it won't be the thing that just magically convinces people we don't just " hate her because she dated steve " but i would hope it explains actual reasons that show we aren't just. stupid hypocrites.

tldr :

it's come to my attention that a lot of peggy fans think sharon fans don't like her because she's with steve which, in my experience of interacting with sharon fans, isn't the case, and it makes me sad that that's the general idea. i think people should be allowed to like and dislike whatever characters they want, for legitimate reasons or not, so long as they aren't being rude or gross about it. and if you are a sharon fan who openly antagonizes other fans over the same shit we were antagonized over, then my message to you is to cut it out. it's about to be 2024, nobody needs that negativity over fictional characters 🫶

[vote-gaara]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 @ that anon The whole Naruto fixation makes me sad 'cause like... it goes to show how starved for friendship he was/is, since Naruto really didn't do much besides fight him and say a few empathetic lines. Gaara would've fixated on /any/ friend he had as a kid, and Naruto just happened to be the first. Imagine how much more it would've meant to him if he actually had a friend by his side regularly who encouraged and supported him. Just one. He wouldn't talk about Naruto so much if he wasn't the only one to show even the tiniest bit of empathy.

TLDR give him a better best friend, Kishimoto

You are absolutely right!

Gaara idolizes Naruto more than anyone else and would literally die for him; however, their bond seems slightly one-sided. Though Naruto would always come running if Gaara's life were in peril and I have no doubt that Naruto really hopes for the best for Gaara, they aren't exactly buds. I mean the two of them aren't going out to hang or anything, or even rely on each other for advice about other things going on in their lives (relationships, finances, day to day problems) that you may confide in a friend for. It seems like Gaara is in this one-sided, business-like, long distance friendship with Naruto that he lives and breathes for, and that kind of personal intimacy is a little strange because their relationship doesn't seem to have much sustenance passed "he saved me" and "we have each other's back in life or death situations".

It's like friend 911.

It's sad because Gaara doesn't ask for anything more, and he clings to this distant relationship partly because it's the first friendship he formed, as you said, and also because I don't think Gaara really knows how to go about forming friendships that are deeper than um...concepts?

I mean look at how he views his bond with his village. He somehow feels as though being a public servant for the people of Suna is enough of an adequate substitute for legitimate human connection. Which, there are people out there who are that introverted and if that's what fuels them and feels best for them, there's nothing wrong with it, but Gaara actually feels like this connection he has to his village is really personal and so he doesn't ask for anything else which is sad because he does actually want more than that from friendships, but he's not sure he's: 1) Deserving of it 2) Has the social skills for it and 3) Has the time for it as he feels obligated to make up for his past through work.

I truly believe there is a strong difference between being introverted and being so used to being lonely that you believe you are okay with being reclusive. Sadly, I think Gaara falls more into the latter category.

I'm not saying that Gaara would go out and be the life of the party and thrive in large, rambunctious social settings if he hadn't been born with Shukaku - I do believe he would still be shy and quiet - however, I think he would have a lot more one-on-one friendships that he could lean on (not including Temari and Kankuro) without the trauma.

It's just that he doesn't feel he can have those things, and I guess he may be scared to try.

This may be controversial, but I this overall Lee has been a better friend to Gaara than Naruto has (whoops).

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I know this is a big thing to ask, but what’s your take on the Nightheart situation? He definitely seems like the most controversial Warrior Cats protagonist in a long time, and I’m not sure what to make of it.

To put it briefly I don’t like how the characters around him have been written ooc at times but I think people blame Nightheart himself too much for that. I personally think this ooc behaviour only has really happened in Sky, notably a book that was written by a different author than the one that wrote River and Shadow.

As for Nightheart himself, I like him, he’s funny. I know his character isn’t for everyone but I do also think people are judging his whole character and arc prematurely. I think his character is going somewhere, he definitely seems to finally be maturing and I’m curious about where he’s going to go.

Overall I think he gets hated on too much, he starts off as very immature and I get why people don’t like that kind of character, especially when it’s looking like he and Sunbeam are going to be a couple. Is the ooc writing of the she cats around him coming across as misogynistic? Yeah definitely, but again it only seems to be an issue in Sky, in River I think Finch and Squilf are fine and Squilf I believe is still in character despite what others say and I love how Sparkpelt is written in that book. I think it’s an author problem much more than a Nightheart problem.

Speaking of Sparkpelt: abandonment issues. I feel that this hasn’t been justified enough in text to show why Nightheart feels this way. Maybe something from his pov growing up would be beneficial since SqH showed Sparkpelt starting to bond with her young kits and Sparkpelt being banished was something he didn’t join her on. I personally headcanon that Sparkpelt remained awkward around her kits and preferred to let Sorrelstripe do most of the raising. As for the exile thing? I’m not sure. Maybe he is just projecting because he feels bad that Finch choosing to go resulted in a much better relationship with her mother and he passed up that opportunity.

Also the Firestar thing just doesn’t make sense without the books establishing that Squirrelflight’s line is seen as the most legitimate Firestar line. If Squilf’s line is seen as the only legitimate one then suddenly Nightheart’s whole related to Firestar thing actually makes sense and I feel this is what the authors are going for, but unfortunately this has never been said in text so Nightheart just comes across as especially whingey seeing as half the clan are related to Firestar at this point, and probably all the new kits in the clan will be in two to three generations at this rate. I think by establishing Squilf’s line as the most legitimate line in text and establish that this is why Nightheart feels pressure while others don’t would fix what is currently a huge hole in his characterisation. That said, to me it seems that, in River for sure at least, this pressure is mostly self inflicted.

TLDR: I like him, he’s funny, but the writing around him is damaging how he is perceived due to warping the world to suit his arc, particularly in Sky.

I think that covers everything that is potentially controversial around Nightheart? Feel free to send an ask if there’s anything I neglected or you want expanding on

I don’t think the writing quality on this one is the best because it’s quite late here sorry so if you want anything clarifying or rewording please just say because I’m not sure how clear this all is lol

[theshejen]

As much as I love SVU it really shows the issues with America's uptight Puritan values and how negatively they affect people. By telling you kids they can't drink, the find out the hard way about drinking. They go to college or university without much knowledge about alcohol. You can't just say something is bad and not give legitimate reasons why. In western Europe, parents gnerally slowly introduce alcohol to their teens in a controlled environment. These teens can also walk or take public transport home, which heavily reduces drinking and driving. My American parents raised me by normalizing alcohol while showing me the difference between drinking and getting drunk. They told me that I could go to parties and such and to call them if I was drunk or high, no questioned asked. They told me smoking anything causes lung cancer and they had friends who has those negative affects but told me trying a little pot wouldn't kill me.

Most parents especially in America aren't like mine. They teach kids that alcohol will kill you without giving the full facts. They leave their kids open to dangerous ways of getting booze which leaves them being opened to being attacked.

What bothers me even more about the states is its anti-sex, anti-dating culture. People hate that their kids want to date despite it being normal. My parents taught me about healthy relationships and sex at a young age. They normalized these things. They said both control and consent with an age appropriate person is what matters.

Most people think that sexual arousal is odd and shameful and that they should suppress these things in teens even though we have studies to show the benefits of masturbation and sex. Too many think, for religious or other reasons that sex, arousal and maturation are wrong, going against science completely. This is how kids get pregnant or to be put in a situation where they are more likely to be sexually assaulted or raped. Instead of being happy their child has an age appropriate boyfriend or girlfriend, their kids will look to someone older.

I know that SVU isn't always real life but the options of these fictitious parents mirror what happens in real life. More and more these days we hear about people not talking to their families anymore, reasons that I mentioned are part of that cause.

Not that I am perfect or a parent, but by normalizing normal human behaviors and desires and educating kids on them is statically better than suppressing and hiding sex and drinking. By being open about these things like in Europe, kids grow up to be happier, better functioning adults which is beneficial to all.

TLDR: America's anti sex and anti drinking statistically causes more problems. European parenting of slowing introducing thse things is more beneficial and reflects scientific output on sex and drinking.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[bestworstcase]

hi! I love your lost lagoon reviews :) reading the last one, I was interested in your take of Cass and Eugene's relationship in TTS, but I felt that maybe it's more nuanced than "cass makes legitimate criticism and eugene insults her"? There *are* moments which show us that Cass is not helplessly being insulted for being right, but does go out of her way to annoy Eugene (I have in mind specifically her seating him at the kids' table in BEA and the eviction letters she apparently sent him, which show that she's not only reacting but also can be unpleasant to him just for the sake of it, because she doesn't like him much at that point). It's not really a counterpoint, I do think you're right, but it read a lot as if she was helpless in their animosity, and that's not exactly how I see it, so I wanted to ask you about it more! Hope that's okay

oh yeah there’s def moments where cass acts in retaliatory ways or lashes out or loses her temper - & like i said in the post itself i don’t think she’s necessarily *bothered* by the insults per se so much as they create this cumulative dynamic where eugene has sort of blinded himself to the reality that cassandra does have feelings and that contributes to the problem, in s2, of cassandra’s relationships with *everyone* on team corona becoming very toxic for her! she’s def not like - i wouldn’t call what eugene does bullying and i wouldn’t describe cass as a victim of bullying, because she can give as good as she gets.

my point was more - i feel like tts broadly frames the conflict as a completely equitable thing. in cassandra vs eugene, the whole conflict begins when: 1. eugene asks cass to borrow her halberd, 2. cass says no, 3. eugene takes it anyway and shaves with it and purposely leaves his hair all over it so that cass will KNOW he messed with her stuff after she explicitly told him not to, 4. cass blows up at him, and 5. eugene escalates the argument by telling her she shouldn’t be upset because she should have known he wouldn’t listen when she said no. but - rapunzel’s point of view on this conflict is “cass and eugene can’t stand each other and keep picking petty fights, they just need to spend some bonding time together!” and that point of view is ultimately validated by the narrative. it’s clear that eugene thinks he deserves an apology from cass because she got mad at him, and he’s never taken to task for this. he never apologizes for stealing her stuff, but cass goes out of his way to cover up HIS mistakes, which happened because he stole one of her weapons and screwed around with it like it was a toy.

like eugene is, clearly, demonstrably, objectively the instigator - but the narrative acts as if *cass* is equally, if not perhaps even a little more, responsible for their argument? it’s weird. anyways

then there’s the tts fandom which in general i think has a tendency to gloss over the crummy things eugene does to cass, and then turn around and say: why does cass hate him so much? why is she so mean to him? poor eugene, cass is bullying him :(

and then you get stuff like lost lagoon / the popular fanon that cass hates eugene because she has a bias against “criminals,” which, like i said, takes that tendency a step further to frame eugene as a victim of cassandra’s bigotry. it drives me nuts, because - while yes they both do jerkish things to each other, and cass is not above retaliating in petty ways - i think *overall,* eugene treats her a lot worse than she treats him, and i read her moments of pettiness as coming from a place of frustration with how unrelentingly awful this guy is to her at the beginning and hitting back at him however she can. (he is, after all, the princess’s consort and has clearly been given carte blanche to act however he wants, which limits puts a degree of restriction on how cassandra handles him - like, i don’t think she could have gone to crowley and been like “the princess’s boyfriend is harassing me, make him stop” and had that enforced in any significant way. so she puts him at the kid’s table [implication: eugene is childish and rude and doesn’t deserve to sit with the adults] and gives him fake eviction notices and finds otherwise to passive aggressively suggest he Doesn’t Belong in the palace instead.)

and of course cassandra’s pettier or passive aggressive behaviors toward him taper off even faster than does her criticism, pretty much as soon as she develops a modicum of respect for him .

also, again like i said, once they settle their differences i really don’t think cass is bothered by his insults - the snarky banter becomes part of their relationship and she makes little jokes at his expense too, like when she makes fun of his goatee in rapunzel’s enemy.

which i guess tldr my stance here isn’t cass is blameless and eugene is picking on her so much as it is eugene is an ass to her at first, and i think he is significantly nastier to her in the first few episodes of s1 than she is to him, and when she insults him it’s 95% of the time about actionable behavior, not intrinsic things, and so i read her overall hostility towards him as her going “this dude is a jerk and i’m going to treat him with the respect he deserves,” as opposed to eugene evidently not liking her because she’s “icy” or “joyless”

[someoneintheshadow456]

So my family has this tradition where we picked a TV show and all watched it together but when GOT ended it stopped, so we moved to Modern Family and...

I can’t stand Alex Dunphy. She is the only character in this wholesome show that I legitimately hate. One of the very few fictional characters whose presence makes me physically ill.

I really hope she only acted like this in the early seasons and grew up later on. If she continues the way she is I will never bring myself to sympathise with her due to primarily values dissonance and cultural upbringing.

Girls like her, who think your GPA defines you as a person, with elitist holier-than-thou attitudes towards intellectualism, who snub everyone who isn’t as “smart” as they are, and see themselves as inherently special and entitled to everything because of their credentials, in the United States, are outliers. Their behaviour is not a symptom of an endemic societal issue.

But in Asian communities, Alexes are not only dime a dozen, but their behaviour is enforced and TAUGHT by society and their elders. AND they are rewarded for behaving this way. Her behaviour is everything that toxic Asian culture encourages, and so to us, it looks much more disturbing.

My elite private school had entire cliques full of them. My former friend group consisted entirely of Alexes. I’ve encountered Alexes in college who came from similar environments. There are even Alexes in my own family.

I had the misfortune of dealing with a male Alex, and both his parents were also Alexes. He would constantly belittle his sister for having a GPA less than 9.0 and struggling with maths concepts when she was only in second grade. His parents didn’t help by pushing her out of photos, constantly insulting her, and taking every moment to remind her that she would never be as “smart” as her brother and thus “we will always love him more.”

What happened to him? He ran back to India from Brown University with his tail between his legs after only one semester. After 18 years of life being made to think he was the perfect king of the world for some numbers on paper, he got the rude awakening that those numbers aren’t enough to succeed in life.

And in real life, Alexes have one common trait - they are all bullies who lack compassion and emotional intelligence. They care only about their status and numbers to the detriment of human relationships. They believe they can get away with disgusting, sociopathic behaviour because they got a high SAT score, work in a certain company, make a certain salary, or attended a certain school. They believe that being treated with decency is a right exclusive to THEM and others like them, while “stupid people deserve it for being stupid.”

Physically disabled? You’re just lazy. Neurodivergent? You’re probably an r word who will never go to college. Lower class? Tough, pull yourself by the bootstraps because that’s no excuse, you worthless slumdog hick. Went through some tragedy that prevented your studies? Suck it up and get over it, plus it was probably your fault. Just plain not good at examinations and sitting in a classroom for 8 hours? You’re an idiot and nobody will respect you.

Alexes define intelligence as a number, a degree, or a paycheck, or all three. They don’t have the capacity to understand that intelligence comes in other ways. They also don’t have the capacity to empathise with anybody who doesn’t think exactly like they do.

And the irony is, most Alexes aren’t even intelligent themselves. You can even see it in Modern Family. Luke, Manny, and even Haley have come up with brilliant and insightful things and solved problems. Both have shown compassion and wisdom in situations where it really counts.

All that Alex has to show for herself however is her GPA. And the moment she gets out of college and enters the real world, she will struggle to understand why she is only getting repetitive clerk jobs and why she can’t form deep connections with people. Her being white gives her an even bigger disadvantage as her culture will not reinforce her mentality, and other white Americans will just see her as elitist and rude.

TLDR - Alex being a rude, stuck up, intellectual elitist to white westerners? Comedic sociopathy. The same behaviour from the eyes of Asians and Asian Americans? Extremely disturbing and a little too close to reality to be comfortable.

[fizzysquish]

I'd really like to hear about your opinion on the ahit fandom if youre ok with sharing? love your writing by the way!!

Oh wow I actually didn't expect anyone to wanna know yifhfkhck

And thank you!

Alright this is.. Gonna be long and most likely have some spelling errors every now and then but bear with me.

Tw- talk of pedophilia, swear words

Tldr at the very bottom

The ahit fandom..

...sucks

But also doesnt? Its kind of hard to explain. In general, if you just glance at the fandom it will either come across as pure or as a shit show. This fandom has some serious problems.

This fandom has a lot of drama happy people in it. Im not going to name names or anything, cause there's no point, but it does. A single scroll through the tags will tell you that much. And this isnt me saying 'people can't have opinions' or what have you. What im saying is that there are people in this fandom who live just to stir up drama and make others angry.

Or, in a lot of cases, instead of just saying a persons opinion, they'll swear up a storm and say they hate certain people or call certain types of fans 'the problem with the fandom' and like.. That just makes you sound like an asshole honestly. And it hurts people, too.

(And nobody can tell me it doesn't. Ive had to reassure too many venting and upset friends because of it. It hurts people.)

Also, because you know I have to mention this and it fits perfectly after this first paragraph- subcon. Snatcher.

I legitimately do not understand why some people hate snatcher so much. And I also cannot understand why some people will specifically target snatcher fans at times.

Snatcher is a big comfort character for a lot of people. Wether its for personal reasons (ex- mine is because of my own past dealing with abuse and trauma), or if its just because they make someone happy.

Snatcher is a comfort character, and the whole story surrounding subcon is so so interesting and fun to explore? And so what if people enjoy it? I can understand that it can get frustrating seeing so much of it, especially if you like something else, but that is no reason to target snatcher fans (or.. Any fans in general) and/or make people feel bad for having fun.

Fuck, thats how you make people leave the fandom entirely. I understand it can get frustrating, but just.. Try to be nicer? Try not to make people feel bad for having fun? Please?

And before anyone tells me "it's not about that!", i want to point out that I often see posts like "don't let the snatcher fans see this-" and other things along that.

If you want me to believe its not about that, prove it. Cause as far as i can tell, it certainly is.

(Also as a note- who cares is someones thirsty??? Like

Just block them and avoid if it bugs you so much?? It's not that hard dude)

-THIS PARAGRAPH MENTIONS PEDOPHILLIA, SKIP IF NEEDED-

Another serious thing to mention is the pedophilia in this fandom. Feel free to skip this part  if it makes you uncomfortable, but its something i need to talk about.

There are pedophiles in this fandom. Ive seen the art and the fics (no matter how many times i scrub my eyes, because its disgusting and horrible and just- eugh-). There are pedophiles here and its easy to come across them because they just.. Aren't afraid to post in main tags. People follow them. People support them. Granted, not everyone, and generally most people know to avoid em, but they're still there. They havent been kicked out or ostracized. And it disgusts me.

I know this whole paragraph could be argued that "that doesn't represent the fandom!" Or whatever but.. This is a younger audiences welcome game guys. Its advertised as 'the cutest 3d platformer!'. Kids can and do play this game.

There is pedophilia in this fandom, and i feel its important to mention.

-END OF PARAGRAPH-

Also, some people in this fandom just.. Suck. Plain and simple. Some people in this fandom are just genuine assholes. And said asshole just like harassing others and causing problems. There's a literal shit ton of drama and problems with this fandom, and honestly it's.. So dumb??

This is literally just a video game and people are just having fun. If there's a problem, treat it like a grown up and either ask the causes to stop and why, or block and move on. Simple.

Now lets move onto the good parts of this fandom, yeah?

First of all- there are some serious sweethearts and amazing people in this fandom. While there are some that suck, there are more that are actually just here for a good time and to make good content.

Ive met some of the nicest people ivs ever known thanks go this fandom. Ive created friends who I seriously consider family. And most people ive talked with or even just ran across have been pretty cool.

This fandom is also generally very welcoming to new people (minus the assholes), ive noticed. Some people get into it really easily just because eveyones generally friendly and supportive. Which is always great!

Also, the fanworks people in this fandom create. Can i just talk about how fucking talented people are??? Its pretty amazing to see how people create things for this fandom.

People will take the story that gears for breakfast showed and they'll run with it, and create these amazing au’s and stories and 'what ifs' from it. Its just.. So amazing to watch people use what we've been given just weaved it into something.

(And this isnt even going over the mods and the stories those create, which always amaze me.)

So with all that laid out, do i think the fandom good or bad?

...i think its both.

The fandom itself has some serious problems in it. It gets unnecessary drama nearly every other month or so for no reason. There are some truly disgusting people and some absolute assholes, but the majority of people are actually pleasant, fun to be around, and welcoming. As long as you be careful of who you follow and use critical thinking skills, its not so bad.

Im not going to lie to someone and say it's all honkey dory. In this fandom, you will inevitably interact with either a creep, an asshole, or both at some point. There is a likely chance that you will have your feelings hurt in some way in this fandom. Ive see it, ive heard about it, ive experienced it.

All that being said, if you curate your viewing, follow people that seem/are cool, and use the block feature (don't. Debate it, if youre unsure about someone just block em)... Its a very fun fandom filled with both heartfelt creations and memes, and has plenty of potential new friends.

So its both good and bad, yeah.

Tldr-

Fandom has lotsa issues but overall is fun, just make sure curate your experience for yourself and dont let what drama pops up or what assholes say get to you.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

TLDR: Republicans believe themselves to be infallible and cannot be convinced otherwise

Republicans think America is perfect and always has been, while simultaneously believing that America is DOOMED and ON THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE at all times and want to bring us back to the Before Times™ when men were men and women were household appliances and minorities were someone else’s problem.  If you bring up a genuine critique of American culture or history they throw a pissbaby shit fit and start spewing nationalist platitudes, “America: Like It or Leave It!”  All their complaints stem from their perceived self-importance being eroded; they don’t like to realize that other people with differing opinions exist and should have their voices heard.  If a “brown” or a “black” or a “red” or a “yellow” is allowed to speak, that just means there’s one less space for a “white.”  All their complaints come from a slippery slope argument that if we don’t model our society after their specific cherrypicked interpretation of The Bible then we will degenerate into amoral savagery.

They say being gay is an abomination and allowing it will damn our children to hell; what they really think is that it’s gross and they don’t want to see things they think are gross.  There’s literally no good argument against marriage equality besides “I don’t personally like it.”  America is not a theocracy, so the belief system of Christianity should not be construed as the law of the land.  This stems from their belief that the Bible is infallible, “because the Bible says so.”  They don’t know and don’t want to know about the history behind it, nor the very contentious political landscapes at the times the books were written, nor the personal biases of the very human authors.  If the Bible is a literal textbook, then why?  What makes it so special?  By whose authority were its contents collated and designated THE Good Book?  If the Bible is literal, why not the works of Homer, or the Epic of Gilgamesh?  Just because the Bible says the Bible is right doesn’t make it so.  For the record, I am a Christian, and I think the Bible is just an old book.  I’m a Christian in that I follow the teachings of Christ, which can be summed up as “DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE.”  I live by that, and All the ChrINOs (Christians in Name Only) need to learn it.  Jesus would be ashamed of what he saw today.

They say that abortion is baby murder, on par with ritual human sacrifice and Satan worship. They don’t understand biology, they have a Sunday School understanding of philosophy, and live in a world so black and white that they can’t even imagine a reason someone would have an abortion besides that they’re a terrible person; a woman who would have an abortion is unfit to be a mother in their eyes because they see abortion as equivalent to smothering a baby with a pillow because you don’t want to take care of it anymore.  “He or she is alive, he or she has a heart beat!”  Well, at this point is is just a blob of tissue, not a living person; a heart beat alone does not make something alive or dead.  Your life comes from your brain, not your heart.  If someone is alive the moment their heart starts, then they must be dead the moment is stops, so CPR is necromancy.  A person isn’t considered dead until their brain is dead, so if they wanted to argue that life begins at brain activity they would have a stronger argument, though still weak because brain activity is not personhood either.  Patients in permanent vegetative states on life support may have some brain activity, but they are effectively dead.  There is no way a judge, appointed by senators elected by the people of the United States, can prove that not only do souls exist but that they are created the second a sperm fertilizes an egg.  If “souls” exist, they aren’t so much created as built up over time as we gain new experienced and our brains develop.  What we are is electricity in a ball of meat jelly in our skulls, and that comes to being at a point after which abortions are already banned.  Conservatives also just want to control women; Roe v. Wade isn’t explicitly about the right to an abortion, it is about the right to body autonomy.  Do women have the right to control their own bodies, or do they defer that right to their fathers and husbands?  Are women people or property?  Can a man make decisions on a woman’s behalf?  “You must forgive my daughter; as a simple minded woman she’s fallen into a stupor of female hysteria.  We’ll have the family doctor bring out the smelling salts and leaches.”

They say that certain vices are crimes against God, but only when some people do it.  Divorce is a sin because marriage is sacred, except when a conservative does it, then it’s totally justified because of such and such explanation.  Tattoos are the mark of the beast, worn by degenerates and lesbians, except when a conservative does it, then it’s just art and harmless self expression.  Marijuana is a gateway drug and we need to lock away its addicts and throw away the key, unless a conservative does it, then it’s just recreational, no big deal, we don’t want to ruin the [white] boy’s future because of it.  A black person who does cocaine is a criminal, a white person who does cocaine is a public figure (you’d be surprised how many actors and politicians regularly use coke; they have to have high energy 24/7 in case there are any cameras, so they need uppers to keep themselves presentable).  This all springs from the fundamental conservative philosophy of “it’s okay when WE do it, but not when YOU do it.”  That’s the long and short of it.  The in-group is allowed to do things, but the out-group isn’t.  It’s the Us vs Them mentality taken to the logical extreme; WE are people, THEY are monsters.  WE are allowed to have faults, THEY have to stay in line and follow all the rules.  OUR lives matter, THEIR lives are lesser.  When you strip away the showy bits and get down to the core of their beliefs, everything stems from their desire to hurt anyone who isn’t them.  They want power, they want to be special, they want the Good Guys™ to always prevail over the Bad Guys™, and they want to be the ones to decide who is good and who is bad.  Their opinions are the only ones that matter, everyone else is wrong because they’re not them.  Now, it’s not like you could solve every problem by opening up your mind to new opinions; there are some issues that are indeed black and white with objectively right and wrong answers, but they live in a world where they are incapable of being wrong.  They see personal growth as a betrayal of the self, that admitting a fault is terrible, that apologizing and learning from a mistake is traitorous.  No, they have to double down on every single one of their beliefs to re-instill it in their minds.  They can never doubt themselves, because God will punish them forever if they ever have doubt.  They can’t ask questions or look at things from other perspectives because that would be an admission that their perspectives are fallible.  They are afraid of changing their minds so much that they refuse to even listen when someone explains their opinions because they don’t want to have their minds co-opted by Satan’s LIES!  If they hear something convincing, it’s all over, their entire world collapses, everything they believe is a lie, they lose, they go to hell forever, The End.

That is the dichotomy under which Republicans live their lives.  Nothing matters but what they believe.  They don’t believe what they believe for logical reasons, so no amount of logic will ever make them not believe it.  They’re making up their own rules to win.  You’re playing Rock-Paper-Scissors and they throw Nuclear Bomb, which defeats all three, so you lose.  You say that’s not fair, they say tough.  You throw Nuclear Bomb, and they say they have a bomb proof shield, so the bomb doesn’t hurt them but kills you, so you lose.  You can’t even beat them at their own game because they’ve been playing it longer, and they cry foul when you stoop to their level, suddenly saying that you need to be the bigger person, walking right up to the line of admitting that what they do is wrong but not quite getting there, simply reverting to the complaint that you shouldn’t be allowed to do it.  “I can, but YOU can’t.”  That’s why it infuriates me when nobody ever calls out a Republican for their hypocrisy.  They do something, a Democrat does that exact same thing, they cry foul, but nobody ever says “well, you didn’t have a problem when you did it,” they just try to excuse their own actions rather than demand justification for theirs.  Democrats are always on the defensive, they always look like they’re losing even when they’re winning, so the Republicans can use that to build their base and rally together for the occasional victory (Democrats won 7 of the last 8 presidential elections; the last Republican to legitimately win the presidency was George H.W. Bush in 1988).

I don’t know how you’d even begin to fight someone who is this far down the rabbit hole of self denial.

Democrats self-reflect, Republicans self-deflect.

Democrats are progressive, Republicans are regressive.

Now I’m sure there are no Republicans reading this, but if there are they’ll make themselves known and “totally refute” everything I’ve said with some paper thin argument that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, but they don’t care because it stands up to them.  They only need to show one example of a Democrat failing to write off the entire party; they only need to show one black Republicans to deny the existence of racism; one gay Republican denies homophobia; one women denies sexism.  They are the party of tokenism.

They will point out the mote of dust in your eye and ignore the plank in their own.

Debate me, I have nothing better to do with my time, I’m a dirty libtard cuckflake soyboy beta with a case full of participation trophies and handouts paid for by other people’s tax dollars (funny, they think handouts are for degenerates, except when they get them.  Inheritance?  Privilege?  Never heard of them!)

[installmentsweird]

Installments of a 25yo #10

So I voted and I have some thoughts... 

Everyone talks about how much we need to vote, but I did and I do not feel like my voice is heard or good about it. We need to have a candid conversation about this process, and the flaws in in because I think everyone thinks that good enough is fine, but it is not. I have felt this way for a while, but I figure I needed to vote in a few elections and see if it changes, it didn’t a lot was just confirmed.

Now disclaimer: This is not saying that you shouldn’t vote, hence why this is posted after 8pm, but what I am saying is to take a closer look at what we are doing and question the process and to exercise your right to vote or not( gasp, shocking, but we will get into that.) 

Presidential Election:

Trump vs. Biden, Democratic vs. Republican, imagine my shock and horror that there are 6 other candidates,  6 OTHER CANDIDATES!!! Now I know most of us were in the same boat, and we either did not know about the other candidates or we put them out of our minds, because they won’t win so why care. 

But it’s the principal. Why aren’t these candidates at the debates? Why is it so hard to find their platforms? People should be able to vote for these candidates without it being a “wasted” vote.  Because we need diversity of thought and all the information possible to pick the best candidate, not just the lesser of two evils. Like that shouldn’t be something used for the presidency that is something you say when you are choosing whether to be late for work or speed a bit, not the presidency, especially when there are other options. (Also other countries have way more than two parties...soooooo I mean it is not like there is not a precedent and cannot be done. Also in some countries they have a ranking system which i feel like is a better system because it encourages more parties and thoughts..)

And speaking of the debates, what were those? Those debates more so resembled a reality tv show fight more than actual talks about the issues, like they are supposed to be.  Also what is really Joe Biden’s platform? I feel like he is running off the fact that he is not Trump, but that is not good enough, where is the road map, what are you going to do to make this country better? Now , Trump is bad, yes, but he just exploited a system that was already very flawed. You ask how he became president, he knew how to win over people and exploit the system not saying that is good, but those are the facts.

Local Elections:

A hot mess. A hot mess. Trying to find information on local offices is like trying to find rain in a desert. And I looked and there is barely anything. Again, how is anyone supposed to vote?   Are we supposed to guess? Because that is what it felt like, that we were supposed to guess. I found more about their families and where they went to school instead about their positions on the issues that are actually important to their office. There is a bit of a similar problem in the big offices too, but you get some of the issues. And people would say again and again that you are supposed to vote the down ballet, but the information that is necessary to do so is not accessible. And this is not laziness, I scoured google, looking a reputable websites and found nothing or next to nothing, certainly not enough to vote on. 

Not Voting:

People always say that if you don’t vote, you cannot complain. But honestly, controversial, but not voting speaks volumes. Why aren’t people voting? Nobody has truly stopped to ask the question. People would give excuses like they are lazy or do not care etc. But if you actually ask people and actually hear the responses...people are disappointed in our system. with good reason because it has failed us so many times. Like has there been a candidate that has truly changed things for the little guy? This pandemic especially has shown the flaws in our system, especially when the government gave people 1200 dollars and just said survive, instead of coming to an agreement that people would need more than that to survive, or the fact that there are people, during a pandemic who do not have healthcare and basically have to survive, good luck. The  actual hell. Basically, if you are not voting for legitimate reasons and choose to exercise your right to not vote especially during a pandemic, you should not be shamed, hot take. Because the government has proven time and time again that they simply do not care, to be quite blunt. So of course people are going to be fed up. 

Electoral College:

No one understands this. So how are we supposed to take full advantage of our rights, if we do not even understand how our vote is counted or utilized? Also by people not being able to understand this, it just makes it easier to exploit it, just saying. 

Voting in General:

The process is kinda tedious, from registration to actually voting in the booths, the whole process is created wholly inaccessible for people and god forbid you have to fill out an absentee ballot. There are better ways and ways to improve the process, such as , why isn’t it online? People say security reasons but nowadays there is a ton of encryption software amongst other things that can ensure a secure voting system. Also how are prisoners included in the counting for the amount of people in a county or political region, but cannot vote? 

So vote if you want is what I am saying, but can we also open the floor to this conversation, because our voice is being suppressed in this process in a lot of ways, from the suppression of other parties to the process itself. For me, there are legitimate reasons as to why people choose not to participate. And our voice is not being used to its full potential. 

Anyway, that was just on my mind after the fact, so I figure I’ll share. TLDR: I’m just disappointed with our system and the way it suppresses us through the guise of empowering us. Now, not there is nothing that could be done about it, but how we are gonna solve anything, if we don’t talk about it and sweep it under a rug constantly. 

Pic credit to: Gerd Altman from Pixabay(the choice sign) and amberzen from Pixabay(vote button)

For more thoughts that may shock you, click here.

[elrondsscribe]

No ATLA shipping wars, please. There is room for ALL the ships.

So I’m sure anyone who’s been tracking me lately knows that I’ve been all up in Avatar: The Last Airbender ...

And I must say, after checking out the tags, I am TERRIFIED to speak my mind about ANY of the ships I like!! Like, I don’t want to be thought of as a poisonous Supporter Of That Which Is Toxic And Problematic because I did or didn’t gel with one ship or other. Spoilers under the cut.

See, I’m always the kind of fan that nobody likes: I’m the MCU fan that appreciates Steve and Tony; I’m the Star Wars fan that loved all nine Episodes. So when I say that I sail literally all of the ships because all of them hit me in different kinds of feels, well, y’all know to expect this from me.

(I should say at this point that the only thing I’m considering ‘canon’ for the purposes of this conversation is A:TLA; no LoK or comics is relevant here.)

(Also, can I just say what a wonderful change of pace it is to be in a property where, at least in the generation of our ‘mains,’ there seem to be more named, developed female characters??)

So I’m gonna start out with saying: I like the canon pairings as they stand! Kataang, Sukki, and Maiko being the main ones, obvs. However, I also like all kinds of AU pairings too!

Like Zutara - I mean, I can hardly say anything here that ten thousand others haven’t already said better, but their journeys do parallel each other in a lot of significant ways, and I think that, by the end of the show, they do legitimately share enough to have the foundations of a good relationship, if as a fanwriter you wanted to go there. You could make much of the poetry of their differences (”you rise with the moon, and I with the Sun”), and/or really develop their existing ability to safely be the ‘splash zone’ for each other’s turmoil. Besides, I think Katara’s mothering fussbudget energy would be a great thing for Zuko, and there’s a gentleness to her that he’d find healing.

{Now, I’ve seen a lot of comparisons between Zutara and Reylo, made by people who either want to demean or defend both ships. I’ve also seen these comparisons soundly trashed by people who like one, but not both, of these ships. As someone who never has had strong feelings either for or against Reylo, and as someone who loves Zutara but not exclusively, my response to all of that drama is a big old shrug of my shoulders. So don’t come at me screaming about Reylo, either to stan or cancel. Please just don’t.}

Also I don’t know a good way to say this, but you know how some people just can’t seem to resist reading Zuko and/or Sokka as gay? Well, I can’t stop reading Mai as lesbian; I don’t know why.

I don’t know which pairing Taang is. If it’s Aang/Ty Lee, omg yes!! Kill me with all the sparkles and rainbows! I already want to eat them both up. More seriously, I think Aang’s peaceable temperament would be a really welcome change in her life, after Zuko’s turmoil and Mai’s ice and Azula’s, well, Azula-ness. She’d probably just love Aang’s aura :) 

If Taang is Aang/Toph, well, we’ve observed that our flighty lil’ Aangster could use a grouding influence :) I don’t know who on Tumblr pointed it out, but Toph is the last person in the world to fangirl over Aang, which seems to be very good for him, while also not clipping his wings. While I do believe they’d be the kind of couple to quarrel and, at times, drift apart from each other (she’s incredibly rooted while he’s the embodiment of a free-spirit), for some reason I can easily see them finding each other again. There’s a scene in my head, one where an adult Aang is faced with the necessity of a sacrifice play that he might not come back from, and instead of tearfully trying to convince him not to do it, Toph says, “Go get ‘em, Twinkletoes.”

[And if you ship Zutara alongside Aang/Toph, you could have a fanfic where you did a Parallel, with Two Ships Of Opposite-Power-Benders. I’d be a fan!]

Now I’ve seen Sokkla floating around too, and I must say that this intrigues me, especially the way that this ship is connected to ideas about the redemption of Azula. I’ve seen some people being really upset that Azula never got a redemption arc in the show, but c’mon guys. A redemption arc for Azula would have taken a long-ass time - it would’ve been awesome, but it would’ve taken a long-ass time, definitely longer than a fourth season, I think. But if you were going to go with a combination of a redemption arc and a ship for her, Sokka would be a great idea. I don’t think Azula knows what fun and merriment are, and who knows those things better than Sokka?

[Honestly, that’s the thing about shipping Sokka with anyone: he would bring them laughter.]

But enough about the het AU ships, let’s talk about the gay ones!

Zukka would be the most prominent example, of course. The rapport that Zuko develops with Sokka over ‘The Boiling Rock’ is beautiful to behold (jokes about ‘that’s rough, buddy’ aside), and heaven knows Zuko needs someone to teach him how to laugh.

And remember how I said that I somehow can’t see Mai as straight? Well, I also can’t stop shipping her with Azula (don’t know the ship name for this one, but I know it exists). Obviously this ship would have more than an edge of ownership and manipulation about it, but they’re so deadly radiant and it’s like I can’t look away from them.

And Ty Lee is just so adorable and sincere (even with all the buried sadness) that shipping her with almost any of the other girls just makes my heart melt. Especially Katara, who would just cuddle the hell out of her whenever she’s feeling down. Or even Azula, who would totally own and work her but also, like, dazzle her. Main exception being Suki - for some reason, my head goes all kinds of hot, dirty places when I imagine Suki and Ty Lee sparring.

However, all this being said, I still have love for the canon ships that we got.

For example, like I said, I do ship Kataang, and I think together they’re incredibly sweet, but I also think that Katara’s tendency to hover and Aang’s tendency to (literally and metaphorically) fly away from/float above problems would jointly become a not-inconsiderable hurdle in a long-term relationship. Now I’ve observed couples in real life with similar dynamics, and I’ll stick out my neck and say that I consider this a workable hurdle, especially if both Katara and Aang grow in maturity and interpersonal understanding as they get older.

Similarly with Maiko: we see that, where Zuko’s emotions tend to run fire-hot, Mai’s tend to run ice-cold; we saw a clear example of these tendencies really clashing with each other. And Mai’s way of showing Zuko affection does seem to have genuinely perplexed some people who watched the show, to the point that they didn’t read it as affection at all. But again, drawing on what I’be observed, some couples really do develop a ‘love code’ that they understand even if literally no one else does. I don’t see any indication of either Mai or Zuko actually ill-using the other; and I will always stan this line from Mai when she made her big choice: I love Zuko more than I fear you.

As for Sukki - well, you already know. Sokka definitely grew and healed a lot from it, but I don’t think the trauma of being unable to protect Yue is one that will ever truly leave him. And as much as Suki understands him, I do think Sokka’s protectiveness will sometimes grate on her. She’s a motherfucking warrior-chieftain. And yes, this can definitely shape into a relational problem, but not one that can’t be worked around.

So ... TLDR, I love all the ships, and refuse to be part of the anti drama.

[sevensoulmates]

Yeah!! you're right, also that part of the toxic fandom does not realize that if they continue like this they will achieve the opposite of what they want (that is, Buddie becomes canon) and that Oliver and Ryan feel annoyed with the ship (something that I am sure they are starting to feel or already feel)

So I took some time to ponder over this because I’ve been seeing this general assumption/fear going around not just in the 911 fandom but within other fandoms as well, past and present. And I just became curious as to why we as an audience feel like if we make a wrong step--like being too pushy about something we do/don’t want--that creators will do the opposite to spite us.

In this day and age, it is very easy to access content creators, even ones who exist as part of a larger corporation. I did some research about how fans have generally been able (or unable) to impact how a show or movie has moved forward with any particular story and it seems that those who have (shows like Arrow that changed up storylines/pairings to suit comic book fans or fans of other ships) have been met with backlash and ultimately no satisfaction for anyone. I’ve also read of some shows (example like BBC Sherlock) adding in meta-level “fans” to their show, or writing in “undertones” to please fans, and that backfiring because the show didn’t actually want go forward with it, so when they backtracked (or didn’t make certain plotlines/ships canon) people were upset because of the false hope they were given.

We’ve also seen the rise in fan support saving certain show from cancellation. We watched it happen with One Day at a Time and with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. What was important to realize on that end, was that the shows weren’t “saved” by their original networks, but were instead bought up by other networks who believed the show could fit their brand and wanted to continue it and still felt like they would find those fans shifting to watch wherever the show went. These shows were saved not because of fan support (although that was a big factor) but mostly because the networks that bought them saw potential in continuing the show.

On the flip side, we’ve seen fan petitions to do things such as re-make the entire last season of Game of Thrones, or remake Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Neither of these fan petitions ever even came remotely close to influencing creators. But then we have the negative backlash of things like Sonic the Hedgehog where fans literally bullied the animation team into redesigning (and therefore re-making entirely) their film. But in that case the creators didn’t necessarily change up the story but rather a character design. Still, it showcases that fans DO have some sort of power to influence things that happen higher up. But how much really? In my opinion, way way less than we think we have.

From what I’ve read (and you can google ‘fan impact on tv shows’ if you want to read some older and newer articles), when it comes to the writing of shows, most creators and their writers are not writing to give the audience every little thing they want--but rather, they write to create the story that the writing team wants and the story that they best feel suits the characters. And this might not always line up with what the fans believe best suits the characters. Of course, TV shows WANT fans to enjoy what they make. They want to have fans in the first place. But because of how active people are online, and how easy it is to have your voice and opinion reach someone high up, fan voices are beginning to be drowned out--purposefully. 

When you have large-scale protests, such as the huge backlash The 100 and several other shows received for perpetuating the “bury your gays” trope, these criticisms are not petty complaints about ships or contradictory lore, these criticisms are about socio-cultural level problems that NEED to be addressed due to the harmful and deadly ramifications they can have on real world people. These protests are needed so that going forward, other media are AWARE of what ramifications may come from such decisions and can make better choices when telling their stories. Shows that have failed to comply often face heavy backlash--or are quick to get the boot (looking at you The Magicians). For problems like this, creators absolutely should be listening to their fans. For things like shipping, or other minor disagreements that are based heavily on individual fan preference, creators can very easily let that roll off their backs.   

My point is that with the ever-closing gap between fans and creators, fans voices have grown louder, yes, but creators ability to tune it all out has grown stronger. TV shows want passionate fans. And those who have been in the field for a while know that comes with having obnoxious, disrespectful, and rude fans as well. At the end of the day, unless a show is writing in storylines or character stereotypes that are disrespectful or harmful to groups of real people, they should not have to bend to every will of every faction of fans. And most won’t. Because you can’t please everybody, so the writers and creators are going to choose to do what works best to them. At the end of the day creators/writers are going to do whatever they want and take the storyline wherever they think is the most interesting (and logical) for their characters. (An aside to say I’m talking about shows that actually know what they’re doing in the writers room--not shows like Riverdale (no offense)).

Shows (like Supernatural for example) are always going to choose to do what they want to do above anything the fans say they want. If they want to make a certain ship happen, they’ll do it. If they don’t, they won’t regardless of how vocal fans (or antis) are. What show writers do and don’t want may shift over the course of time. It happens. (Like for example, in my personal opinion, I don’t believe the writers were at all trying or necessarily wanting to write Buddie as a legitimate thing/possibility in s2, but with s3 I feel that has changed). When writing to please fans, you can risk certain decisions coming off as pandering (like in Star Wars:TROS). And when certain decisions feel inauthentic to the show or underdeveloped/OOC for a character (even things that people claim they really wanted) it can feel disappointing even to the most loyal of fans.

For 911 specifically, we’ve seen that the show can and does focus on character’s love lives. It’s not unreasonable to expect that from them like it might with say shows like The 100 where the plot-heavy sci-fi action has always been the priority for the show’s writers, above whatever romantic side-plots they have with their characters. And we’ve seen that 911 is generally positive when it comes to how they represent queer characters (as for other minority rep, 911LS has some issues on the muslim rep, but I am not qualified to speak on that as someone who is not muslim). The show is not perfect in it’s writing, they’ve made mistakes or done things that not all fans have liked, but from my perspective (and I think a lot of other people’s perspectives too) the show does its best to remain true to its characters and tell a genuinely interesting and engaging story. The show (both the writers, producers and actors) seems to care for their characters and the stories they give them a whole lot.

So, tldr, no. I don’t think the writers would simply choose to not make buddie a thing if they genuinely thought it would work for their characters and the story they want to tell. Even if the shippers are obnoxious and annoying. Even if the actors may occasionally get frustrated with shippers online. If it was right for the show, and right for the characters, I do feel like 911 would go for it. Hell, they might feel like buddie is right for the show/characters but not right right now, and that’s where character development, plot development and relationship development comes in. Ladies, gents and non-binary pals, that’s where patience comes in. 

In the meantime, show your enthusiasm! But be respectful, always.

[hopelesstvaddict]

Hi do you think jonsa was only d&d creations because they have romanticised other pairs as compared to their book counterpart? Do you think Sansa will able to soothe the beast in Jon in books after Resurrection or jonsa happening in book?

Hi !

To he honest I kind of doubt that D&D came up themselves with Jonsa given what we know about them and the image they project regarding the quality of their story. However I'm not one to dismiss people like that just because their creation is flawed.

There are things they indeed created for the show but it was always based on something from the books they wanted to adapt (characters like Talisa for example) So if indeed they created Jonsa it was based on something from the books. I don't think they intentionally set them up romantically - although the amount of tropes and imagery pertaining to romance is a bit puzzling - but they did build up their relationship at least on a siblings level, that's for sure. So that means that in the books, Jonsa is meant to happen at least on a siblings level. Jon and Sansa are meant to reunite at some point and they will likely wage war together to retake Winterfell. So their relationship will be explored in the books as well on some level. That is a certainty now. Now the question is on which level.

By this point in the books Jon has died and the show has confirmed he's going to be resurrected. Now in the show Sansa arrives at the Wall pretty much soon after whereas in the books she is still in the Vale so it's possible Jon leaves the Wall and they meet up elsewhere or Jon stays and she arrives later. But they will meet up. Show!Jon was upset and shaken with his death and resurrection but we all agree that it will be more violent for Book!Jon given the magical aspects that the show eluded. If Jon indeed survives because he wargs into Ghost then yeah it's possible that Sansa will help Jon find himself again. But that is already a given in my opinion. I can't see the point of reuniting a wild Jon with his long lost sister if it's not to give him a purpose again. On this, the show has already adapted its own version with Sansa giving Jon a reason to live and to fight again. A more literal example - though I don't know if it was intentional or not - is when Jon beats Ramsey to death but stops short when he sees Sansa. The crew has already commented on this scene and the fact that Jon has lost his humanity there and become a beast/monster. Sansa stops that. She gives Jon back his humanity.

Now if we're talking Jonsa in romantic terms that's another thing. There's enough foreshadowing in the books to support the theory and enough context to see why it would make sense for the overall story. There's also enough visuals now in the show to logically and legitimately think that they support what transpires in the books. But given what we know about D&D it kind of jeopardizes everything because we can't be sure they did this and that on purpose or just got lucky. It seems weird that all these scenes that could be read romantically were all kept in but we can't put it past D&D to have let them in and not realized it was setting a potential romance they did not intend. Perhaps they just reused romantic shots that worked for a woman and a man before - Robb/Talisa, Jon/Ygritte, Jaime/Brienne, Sam/Gilly (yeah that's pretty much all the couples) - that they liked and used them for Jon/Sansa without realizing that Jon and Sansa weren't supposed to be a couple. Oops. But then if we're going that way why not use the same shots for Jon/Daenerys? Oops.

Basically since the show ended like it did, with only the big main storylines finished but all the details and subtleties left out, the speculation can go on. Martin has said the show and the books would roughly have the same general ending. That means that in the books Jon will also team up with Daenerys and that it will end in disaster. That much is confirmed. What the show didn't really conclude are the characters' personal wishes. The journeys, they did finish but at the cost of their life dreams. Or rather it left it open-ended. Sansa's dreams of marriage and motherhood are now left for her future. Jon's dream of a peaceful life is now left for his future. I believe the books will be more complete in that regard especially with Sansa whose storyline basically revolves around marriages and the suffering that stems from each of them before she (temporarily) sheds it to fight for the North. If we're talking about a satisfying ending, she's meant to marry for love and experience a happy motherhood while also leading the North politically and ending up Queen in the North. Or a combination of these. But it would be a bit anti climactic if she completely abandoned those dreams of having a husband and children. The show did not state that she did set those wishes aside, it just implied that she would eventually do it later on.

One thing that the show did here in its ending is that it didn't close any doors. It left everything open. Fans have speculated for a long time who would be the final love interest of Jon and of Sansa. We know now that Dany is not it for Jon. And fans have agreed that Sansa's final partner is not going to be a random character. In the books, she's paired off with pretty much all important male characters - Sandor, Tyrion, Robyn, Theon, Harry the Heir... The show either refused to acknowledge the importance of these relationships or flatly benched them by having the guy killed or Sansa concluding the relationship on her own terms. And proceeded to present ONE relationship that defines Sansa's storylines for the final three seasons. ONE. That hasn't even happened in the books. If Tyrion or Harry or Sandor was the one for Sansa, surely Martin would have told D&D. We can't really be sure that D&D didn't write themselves into a corner and decided that they would diverge on this aspect but in my opinion, Martin told them Sansa's defining relationship would be Jon. Perhaps I'm giving D&D too much credit but I dont think they are the morons the fandom want them so desperately to be. Sure their writing is a bit on the wall and they are things they could have done better. But they ARE writers and producers and they do know how to do things. Maybe they did indeed rush things in the end. But they do know how to write romance - Robb/Talisa, Jon/Ygritte - and they are capable of planting seeds leading up to a big reveal - the Red Wedding for example. Earlier seasons and episodes like Baelor, The Battle of the Bastards, The Winds of Winter are proofs they can do great things if they want. Their script for the series finale was light, yes, but the visual result wasn't and we know that unscripted moments were kept in. These include Jon/Sansa scenes that do nothing to shoot down the relationship whether romantically or not. The directors were D&D themselves and they chose to keep these in. Coming from two guys who, per basically everyone's admission from the cast to the various directors, have exactly in mind what they want to see and won't easily let improvisation or something else than their own vision creep into the final montage, that's kind of huge.

Add all of these with Harington's acting choices. This, we can't really count as a definitive argument for Jonsa. Maybe its just the chemistry he shares with Turner. Maybe that's how they are in real life, maybe it was his own acting choice. But it is still strange that all of these scenes with double-entendre were all kept in by all these different directors/that no one picked up on it if they weren't meant to form an overall entity. And when you start piling up all of these, the acting choices, the sceneries, the unscripted additions, the foreshadowing in the books, all the parallels between Ned/Cat, the fact that Jon and Sansa have been built up for the last three seasons... it kind of becomes a bit big. What was left out really was just the culmination of it all. So that's why my opinion is that for some reason Martin asked them not to spoil everything and just do the strict minimum to complete the general storyline. Maybe in the end it will also amount to nothing. But then it will be really hard to explain.

TLDR : in any case, no I dont think that D&D intentionally created Jonsa, they merely followed Martin's guidelines for the upcoming books. Meaning that strictly on a siblings level, Jonsa will happen in the books. It's a given that Sansa's presence will help Jon especially if he has a problem with his humanity in light of his resurrection. A romance between the two is definitely still on the cards and in any case they will still fare better than Jon and Daenerys in the end.

This got long as I expected. Thanks for the ask !

[moved99999999999]

U guys wanna know what I think about that hell hotel show

I feel like twitter’s very tired of seeing ppl talk about Hazbin Hotel, so I putting my opinions on tumblr where they belong. I’m not a “professional critic” by any means, but I’ll try my best given what I know. And don’t worry, I’ll be incredibly nit-picky to suit the internet’s needs.

I’m gonna mainly focus on HH itself instead of Vivzie’s accusations because that's a WHOLE other can of worms to open.

During the time of me writing this, I haven’t watched any YT reviews, but I’ve read a few threads criticising the show, so take that as my social influence bias.

My ted talk is allllll below the cut. Enjoy~

Context: 

My first exposure of Vivzie’s work was her “Die Young” animation that I came across around 2016. Instantly I fell in love with how “smooth” and lively her animation was, and especially the fact that it was hand drawn. Animation like that was extremely rare to come by (and still is) and seeing her execute it so well with such complexed characters was amazing to my fetus self. 

A few years later and I see the first trailer for HH. I instantly went OH I RECOGNISE THAT STYLE AND THOSE CHARACTER TYPE DESIGNS and was looking forward to what it had to offer. 

On “opening day” I watched the pilot ASAP to avoid my opinions from getting warped by all of the key-mash memes and post call-out bitching (literally the extremes of the HH opinion spectrum), and overall.....

I thought it was good. 

Not ground breakingly amazing, not horrifically terrible, but charmingly good.

(Ok now it’s actual review time)

Animation Quality:

As a hand drawn animation that has the freedom to get creative with its shots, a lot of effort was clearly put into how everything moves (it definitely didn’t take any lazy flash puppet shortcuts for the main sections of the show) and I can appreciate that. However it tends to be... rather inconsistent, most likely due to the varying skill level of the animators on the project. It’ll be nice and smooth one minute, and then awkward and choppy the next which can make the viewing pretty confusing at times. I’ll be honest I found myself overlooking these inconsistencies due to the characters and backgrounds themselves being very visually engaging, especially considering how over designed some of them can be (which I applaud the team for handling cuz wow that must have been painful). However, the needle thin and exaggerated art style makes some things incredibly hard to look at. While it helps with adding fancy details, it hurts in catching peoples eyes in the right place.

It’s also chalk full of little details, visual gags, and references that are hilarious to look at if you have the luxury of pausing every two seconds (the news segment and Sir Pentious turf war w/ Angel and Cherri are good places to look). But I feel like these lil details were put in at the cost of some some continuity errors (Charlie not wearing her coat in one shot, and having it back on in the next, papers being blank, etc.) and lip-syncing issues which really shouldn’t be happening considering all of the detail they were able to put in. There are also some shots that have just SO MUCH detail put into them, only to be shown for less than a second. I get that’s the cost of animation sometimes, but save the detail for the shots that need it, because at that point you’re just causing the animators to waste their efforts.

However, I was surprised at how professional the soundtrack and editing was. Not one but THREE songs in this single episode was really surprising, and the variation and quality of each was great (as cringy as Charlie’s song is)

But overall, the production quality is surprisingly good for a project like this, the editing, sound effects, and sound track act like a cherry on top. Of course there are some noticeable drops in quality, but given time and a budget, it has enough chops to look like an actual show.

Writing: 

As far as overarching plot goes, it seems like it’s going to be one of those procedural shows that tries to be serialised, but it’s a creative twist on hell and has an interesting premise to begin with. You can get really creative with seeing how you’d dive into getting redemption out of all of these seemingly lost causes, and I’m sure there are many people willing to know the backstories our main cast. As a pilot, it did it’s job of launching the plot very well, setting up the premise of the hotel and introducing characters in a very engaging way. I was legit really interested in each segment with who in introduced, and it didn’t feel like I was being overloaded with names to remember (which can be a problem for many medias and introductions). The cohesion between each scene is VERY smooth, and I genuinely enjoyed some of the cliché cuts/gags. 

Unfortunately I can’t extend this interest to our main character. Charlie is one of the most generic tropes we’ve ever seen. She’s a boring Disney princess who has a “cute happy positive goal to change her world” and the only thing that would make her more generic is if she wore a dress and cried “I’m tired of being so privileged”. 

(Although it’s impossible to tell, I honestly think Viv is just projecting through her, especially considering how horrifically accurate the hotel’s opening mirrors the internet’s reaction to the pilot itself)

I would be more forgiving if she was a supporting character or someone less important, but she’s the freaking protagonist, arguably the character that has to be the most interesting. Angel’s personality seems to be “flirty porn star”, and while that’s just as bad as being a boring Disney princess, at least he gets a few jokes and has a profession more interesting than Charlie’s. Around the end of the pilot he just seems like he’s getting involved because Viv likes giving him attention. If he’s supposed to be leeching off of the hotel, wouldn’t not care if it survives or not?

(There’s that whole stereotype issue that everyone keeps bringing up, but I genuinely think that’s BS because people are blatantly ignoring the fact that Angel is a porn star, Vaggie is portrayed as helpful, and that the show takes place in H E double hokey sticks.)

The transitions may be smooth, but the dialogue pacing can get really awkward at times. This paired with the animation sometimes having awkward quality drops makes some movements incredibly jagged, and has some detailed shots show for incredibly unbalanced screen time as mentioned before. 

I don’t have enough to give voice acting it’s own section so I’m just popping it down here:

The voice acting is legitimately better than several big name projects I know. It’s consistent, great at expressing the character’s mood properly, and each voice fits each character perfectly. My only gripes are that Alastor and Sir Pentious tend to grain on you after awhile due to them keeping a single tone for too long. 

Character Design: AKA the only thing I have legitimate experience with.

First thing’s first. The characters are WAY too over designed. There are so many markings and accessories that are incredibly unnecessary. I think the mindset for these characters was “the more complicated and attractive the better”, which makes them look like they’re designed by an edgy tumblr artist (heck I fall for this too some times).

Especially if a character is going to be animated, you have to keep in mind the value of simplicity. You absolutely don’t have to fill in your character with markings and trinkets to make them look unique, I mean just look at the gen 1 pokemon starters. Thanks to the limitations of the game, the sprites were forced to be simple, and it was that simplicity that made them such unique and varied creatures. You can tell Blastoise is a bulky water blasting turtle just with a quick glance. 

Many of the characters suffer from over complication, but I’ll look at Husk for example. He has these stripes all over him that do not contribute to who he’s supposed to be at all, and only look like they’re added to make him more unique. The markings that DO help are the little card suite marks on his wings, because those at least infer he’s linked to a casino/gambling type of theme. I would say his outfit helps as well, but formal wear and bowties are worn way to often by the main characters, which brings me to another problem.

They may look different, but they feel way too similar. From the same skinny body type, to generic head shapes, to outfits, the focus characters just don’t stand out amongst each other. Even the ones with interesting features still suffer from feeling generic. I’d say Sir Pentious is a good example of this. He has a serpentine/naga body and clever hair style that make his concept really creative, but his skinny body type, complicated eyes all over his tail, and generic “young but supposed to be at least middle aged” face just push him back into obscurity. He’s even wearing the SAME outfit as Alastor (who's an even worse offender of that generic face problem), and unless Viv has some plan to link the two, I’d say the characters need to stop using a dress code.

A successful character design can to tell you who the character is just by looking at them. You should be able to tell if a character’s personality, function, age, the universe they belong in, and if they’re important or not, and that’s a big problem when it comes to the background characters. If you pause on one of the extras for a minute you can see all of the effort put into designing them, and that takes away so much attention from the main cast. Not only that, but they have actual variations in their body types and outfits, which makes them more intriguing than who we’re supposed to be interested in.

Regardless, this pilot has potential, and if they can get someone to comb out the flaws, you can end up with something good. No one can deny a legitimate animation was made here, and the team successfully executed the start of a story, and that’s something anyone can look up to.

TLDR: The pilot is good. It has some major flaws, but it has potential to be a good show.

If you actually read this far epstein didn’t kill himself.